What we must do

December 27, 2012

It has been just a few days since the shooting in Connecticut that killed 27 people, 20 of them were children. We are now going into the discussion phase on what needs to be done to prevent this tragedy from ever happening again.

It is now being suggested that we as a society must pass legislation to ban what is being called assault weapons, these guns are being characterized there only use is for the purpose of mass killings.

What we are doing is going after the tool not the cause of these tragedies, until we start identifying the cause we will not stop this in the future.

First we must spend money to make sure our children are safe in school. Make sure there is bullet proof glass throughout each school and intruder safe entrance doors that are 100 percent secure from the inside. Either allow the professional educators carry a weapon or have security officers armed.

Second we must do a better job of helping the mentally ill in this country.

Third we have seen violence increase many factors play apart in this, more violence on TV, violence in video games, innocent children and young adults being bullied day after day with not enough being done to stop it, from parents or school officials.

Banning certain guns will make people feel safe, but it will not actually make them safe. No matter what is done there will be individuals who will still commit these horrible crimes. We must limit these occurrences as much as humanly possible and make them rare. When these instances happen every attempt must be made to spare as much life as possible.

I support the Second Amendment and believe banning guns will not stop or put a dent in the loss of life. I would support (limiting) the amount of ammunition that can be in a clip, but what people need to understand that it takes less then five seconds to change clips.

In the end, what stopped this individual as far as anyone can tell was the sound of the police and responders sirens coming to the scene. Ben Franklin said, "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety."